After being dumped unexpectedly by his girlfriend, Kazuma Kinoshita a college student is thrown into a rollercoaster of emotions. In attempt to get over his pain, Kazuya resorts to renting a girlfriend online as a coping mechanism. He books an appointment and prepares to just get it over with the rental services of a fake girlfriend. However when he meets up with his fake date, Kazuya is shocked to meet the beautiful Chizuru Mizuhara and is completely taken aback by her composure.
What was originally meant to be a one time experience slowly evolves into series of encounters initiated by Kazuya at the expense of his finances. Things slowly get out of control as Kazuya ends up introducing Chizuru to his friends and family as his real girlfriend much to their approval. Chizuru initially planned on disputing the idea but after countless persuasions from a desperate Kazuya, she reluctantly agrees on the basis that he continues to pay for her everything.
Kazuya and Chizuru both continue with their lie which ends up making Mami (Kazuya's ex girlfriend) jealous even going as far as trying to win him back in numbers occasions. Kazuya on the other hand starts to develop genuine feelings for Chizuru pushing him to rent her services regularly as he is to scared to tell her how he truly feels.
This is totally different from Chizuru who does not feel any form of attraction towards and plans to keep it 100% professional until the very end.
The series progresses with a whirlpool of emotions, Kazuya trying to navigate previous feelings for his ex and and his now love interest, Chizuru struggling to focus on her career as an actor while also balancing her side hustle as a rental girlfriend and both of them keeping up the facade of being an authentic couple to their respective families.
In the sixth episode of the first season, a summer festival was celebrated in the series ushering a shift from the emotional tension to one of celebration. Dressed up in traditional attires, Kazuya and Chizuru both attend the summer festival celebration seperately but end up running into each other as the festivities intensifies. They try to converse as they are not business associates but neighbors and it is at this point that Kazuya completely realize that his feelings are not just products of a make believe relationship but an authentic affection towards Chizuru.
Chizuru also displays her soft spot for Kazuya signifying a potential crack on the walls she built around her heart despite efforts to cover it up.
During the summer festival, the pretend couple run into friends and family members and this automatically forces them to continue with the pretense of being relationship partners. Kazuya's grandmother who is most especially thrilled about their supposed relationship as Chizuru is also the granddaughter of her best friend pleads with them both to make it work as nothing would make her happier than seeing them both ending up together further intensifying the mood.
The fireworks at the festival brought with it a beauty that radiates with the calmness of the atmosphere. The sky is lit up by sparkles that spoke emotions of closeness, clarity about feelings from Kazuya and Chizuru questioning if she might have feeling for her client after all. The summer festival is a very crucial part of this series as it marked the shift and begining of a story pushing this two souls to the next phase.
Thank you.
Images are all gotten from IMDb
